


Beautiful

by emily_grace



Category: The Prom - Sklar/Beguelin/Martin
Genre: F/F, but happy ending bc emma and alyssa deserve nothing but the best, insecure emma, tw adolescent bullying, tw body image issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-01-07
Packaged: 2019-10-06 00:15:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17335073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emily_grace/pseuds/emily_grace
Summary: Emma Nolan isn't beautiful. At least, that's what she has been told throughout elementary and middle school. So how is she supposed to go to prom with the most beautiful girl in school, Alyssa Greene?[Insecure!Emma with a bullying backstory but ends with cute smitten Alyssa!!]





	Beautiful

When Emma Nolan was in fifth grade, she sat next to Kaylee in every single class. Kaylee, with her perfect hair and perfectly coordinated outfits. Kaylee could answer all of their teacher’s questions and didn’t stare out the window daydreaming like Emma did. Kaylee was nothing like Emma, and they both knew it. Kaylee made sure of that. At lunch, she would make faces at Emma that made her feel like she shouldn’t be eating her ice cream cone. She would turn to her friends after staring at Emma to make sure she saw, and mouth “ew”. They all laughed. Emma shrunk into herself. 

When Emma Nolan was in 8th grade, everyone was mean. Well, scratch that. Her classmates were mean every year, but especially in 8th grade, when puberty was rampant and tensions were high. Everyone was crushing and forming cliques, and Emma was still (big surprise!) the odd one out. And guess who was in the popular crowd? Kaylee, and her apparent new best friend Shelby, who, for the record, was Emma’s friend first. Kaylee and Shelby wore cute jeans from the Limited Too and brightly colored shirts with rhinestones. Emma wore baggy jeans and converse and sweatshirts. And that’s what she was comfortable in. But apparently Kaylee’s mission in life was to make Emma feel like a stranger in her own skin, because one day she walked past Emma’s locker with one of her friends. “Mary, I just saw the most tragic thing! You’ll never believe it. Emma Nolan, in sweatpants! For like, the hundreth day this year.” Mary giggled and shot a fake pitying look at Emma, who stood like a statue at her locker. “OMG Kaylee, honestly we’re lucky she doesn’t attempt real fashion, watching her fail would just be too sad. Just like that face and those huge grandma glasses…” As they walked away, Emma adjusted her glasses and tried to ignore the stares of her classmates. She had never felt less beautiful or deserving of attention.

When Emma and Alyssa started dating in secret, Emma was the happiest she had ever been. Alyssa was kind, smart, warm, and beautiful. Emma truly didn’t deserve her, but every time she even implied that, Alyssa scolded her. So Emma never really unpacked those years of insecurity in the context of her new relationship. That is, until she was sitting next to Barry Glickman trying to get dressed for her prom. Which she was meeting her girlfriend at. Her beautiful girlfriend. Emma was sweating just thinking about it. Alyssa hadn’t told her what color her dress would be, but Emma was sure she would look amazing. And Barry was intent on making Emma look amazing as well, which she wasn’t so convinced about. How could she be, when she wasn’t a beautiful person? Trying on dress after dress, Emma felt itchy and uncomfortable in her own skin, just as she had in middle school. She tried to bring up the possibility of wearing a suit, but she didn’t want to disappoint Barry and his feminine fantasies. Plus, a suit would be super butch, and she had to remember that she would be seeing other people at prom besides Alyssa. Aka all of her classmates, who would definitely make comments about her inability to wear anything other than pants. And also makes comments about the gay thing. Always the gay thing now. So Emma gave in and dressed in a light blue dress for the prom. Well, until that "prom" turned out to be some fabricated, sadistic ploy to embarrass and isolate her further. So scratch that dress. At least she didn’t have to worry about Alyssa seeing it and realizing that Emma wasn’t beautiful and feminine enough for her. 

Emma was feeling much more confident about the real prom that her Broadway friends planned with her and Alyssa. Not only was she sure it would be inclusive, she was sure that Alyssa would be there and would be willing to dance with her and acknowledge that Emma was her date. The only thing still bugging Emma in the back of her mind was how she would look, and Alyssa’s reaction. Typical. But she took a chance and picked out a velvet suit jacket with really nice jeans, and she was feeling….okay. She didn’t look bad. And she felt like herself, which Barry said was the most important thing (while blowing his nose and attempting to hug her). Fuck Kaylee and her stupid middle school comments. Nothing would ruin this night for Emma this time. The final touch on her outfit were those big old grandma glasses and the beginning of a tiny confident smile, something Emma definitely wasn’t used to wearing. That smile grew when Alyssa opened the door and told Emma something she had never heard before:

“Emma, look you beautiful.”

Emma’s mind went fuzzy and blank, as it did every time Alyssa talked to her with that smile and excited tone of voice. She vaguely registered Alyssa’s continuous babbling (“Like, I am so lucky to be going with you, oh my god you look so good and you’re so brave to be doing this whole thing and your eyes are sparkling holy shit do they always do that??? Emma you need to start wearing velvet suit jackets to school if that’s not against the dress code-”).

And yeah, it’s safe to safe that in that moment, Emma Nolan had never felt more beautiful.


End file.
